WAMSI Node 4.1 focussed on: 1) developing a means (mechanisms and processes) of integrating Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) into “mainstream” fisheries management, including the WA Government’s Integrated Fisheries Management (IFM) initiative, and; 2) to source, identify and integrate appropriate supporting research. Ultimately, this project will provide stakeholders, including the broader WA community, with a much improved understanding of what EBFM means and how it could be achieved in WA. The key outcome will be the development of a risk assessment system that encompasses each of the ecological, social and economic aspects of fisheries management. The West Coast Bioregion was used as a case study, with a report to be available for download.

WAMSI Node 4.1 focussed on: 1) developing a means (mechanisms and processes) of integrating Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) into “mainstream” fisheries management, including the WA Government’s Integrated Fisheries Management (IFM) initiative, and; 2) to source, identify and integrate appropriate supporting research. Ultimately, this project will provide stakeholders, including the broader WA community, with a much improved understanding of what EBFM means and how it could be achieved in WA. The key outcome will be the development of a risk assessment system that encompasses each of the ecological, social and economic aspects of fisheries management. The West Coast Bioregion was used as a case study, with a report to be available for download.

The dataset represented here is the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model input and output under various scenarios for biomass and catch data, taking into account ecological parameters, different fishing methods, as well as social and economical parameters. Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management is a holistic management approach that integrates the dynamics of an entire ecosystem, including societal dimensions. However, this approach seldom lives up to its promise because economic and social objectives are rarely specified. To fill this gap, we explored how an ecosystem model could better integrate economic and social objectives, using the coral reef ecosystem around Hawaii as a case study. After meeting with stakeholders and conducting a literature review of policy/strategy documents, we identified societal and ecological objectives and associated performance indicators for which data existed. We developed a social-ecological system (SES) conceptual framework to illustrate the relationships between ecological and social state components. This framework was the foundation for the development of the final SES model which we simulated using an Ecopath with Ecosim model. We simulated four gear/species restrictions for the reef-based fishery, two fishing scenarios associated with the opening of hypothetical no-take Marine Protected Areas for the deepwater-based fishery, and a Constant Effort (No Action) scenario. Despite limitations in the model, our approach shows that when social and economic objectives and social-ecological relationships are defined, we can visualize and quantify the trade-offs among the identified societal objectives to support managers in choosing among alternative interventions.

This record describes, and links to a working paper published through the Economics and Environment Network at The Australian National University in Canberra. The failures of traditional target-species management have led many to propose an ecosystem approach to fisheries to promote sustainability. The ecosystem approach is necessary, especially to account for fishery-ecosystem interactions, but by itself is not sufficient to address two important factors contributing to unsustainable fisheries - inappropriate incentives bearing on fishers, and the ineffective governance that frequently exists in commercial, developed fisheries managed primarily by total harvest limits and input-controls. We contend that much greater emphasis must be placed on fisher motivation when managing fisheries. Using evidence from more than a dozen ?natural experiments? in commercial fisheries, we argue that incentive-based approaches that better specify community, individual harvest, or territorial rights and also price ecosystem services - coupled with public research, monitoring and effective oversight - promote sustainable fisheries.

The important role of the marine environment in recruitment and catches of a number of Western Australian commercial fisheries has long been recognised. This project is establishing a centralised database of relevant oceanographic and meteorological data off the Western Australian coastline in a consistent format to assist in establishing links between fisheries and the environment. The data are being acquired both from external sources (e.g. CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology) and from internal Fisheries data collected over the years.

Since 1984, the NOAA Fisheries Service's Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) Program has been engaged in the development and implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to support assessment and management of marine resources and habitats. Five linked program modules have been developed for introducing the LME approach: productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution and ecosystem health, socioeconomics, and governance. Taken together, these modules provide time-series measurements used to support actions for the recovery, sustainability, and management of marine resources and habitats. A global effort is underway by NOAA in partnership with the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the UN's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and other UN agencies to improve the long-term sustainability of resources and environments of the world's 66 LMEs and linked watersheds. Scientific and technical assistance is provided to developing countries committed to policies and actions for eliminating transboundary environmental and resource-use practices that lead to serious degradation of coastal environments and their linked watersheds, and to losses in biodiversity and food security. LMEs are natural regions of ocean space encompassing coastal waters from river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundary of continental shelves and the outer margins of coastal currents. They are relatively large regions of 200,000 km2 or greater, the natural boundaries of which are based on four ecological criteria: bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophically related populations. The theory, measurement, and modeling relevant to monitoring the changing states of LMEs are imbedded in reports on ecosystems with multiple steady states, and on the pattern formation and spatial diffusion within ecosystems. The concept that critical processes controlling the structure and function of biological communities can best be addressed on a regional basis has been applied to the ocean by using LMEs as the distinct units for marine resources assessment, monitoring, and management.

This sub-project addresses the question what are the initial and longer term (2 years) economic and social values generated under the changed management arrangements associated with the demersal finfish fisheries of the West Coast Bioregion’, in relation to the charter boat industry of Western Australia. It assesses the development, size, and structure of the industry, and examines the socio-economic impact of recent changes to the management of recreational fishing in the West Coast Bioregion. The results of an operational and financial and socio-economic survey of active operators and an analysis of daily trip returns show that tour operators have adapted to the new management regime in five principal ways: (i) a decline of fishing effort; (ii) an increase in alternative (non-demersal) fishing activity; (iii) an increase in non-extractive activity; (iv) a transfer of some effort outside of the West Coast Bioregion; (v) and the exit of active operators and the retirement of inactive licenses.